Body Based Trauma Responses
Your Sympathetic Nervous System
In its most basic sense, your sympathetic nervous system is the part of your body that activates in response to stress or trauma. Colloquially, this has been referred to as the fight or flight response, but more modern research has shown there are more possible responses.
This stress response includes hormones like adrenaline, epinephrine, and cortisol that are helpful when we are truly in immediate need but can become harmful when we are under chronic stress or ongoing trauma (including symptoms of PTSD). Chronic stress leaves our bodies flooded by these stress hormones which can wreak havoc on our health.
The sympathetic nervous system is normally balanced by the parasympathetic nervous system which controls our body responses to rest, relaxation, and other “down time” activities.
The Four Responses
Researchers currently identify four responses to stress and trauma: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. Many lists exclude freeze, fawn, or both. Other lists include other words, but in general most research agrees on these four.
Remember that each of these responses are helpful and good as a survival mechanism- you don’t want to be logically considering all the options if you’re being chased by a bear in the woods.
But in the modern world, our stresses and traumas are rarely created by bears. And the responses that are helpful out in the woods are less helpful (and even harmful) when our stressors are things like bills, spouses, car issues, and work.
These first two responses (fight and flight) are high energy responses that are instinctive and common to animals as well as humans. The next two responses (freeze and fawn) are low energy responses that are also instinctive and shared among animals as well as humans.
Fight Response
Someone who tends to respond to stress or trauma with fight responds to stress by moving toward it with a great deal of energy.
The fight response feels incredibly energizing physically. You might notice that you feel strong or powerful. Your muscles might tense up in preparation and you might notice your jaw clenching. In your mind, you might feel an urge to hit or push something.
Mentally, a fight response can take the form of angry thoughts. You might ruminate on an imagined confrontation, wishing harm on another person, or think about ways to get back at them. With a stressful project or deadline, your mind might alternate between blaming others for not working fast enough and anger at the unfairness of the task.
In relationships, people with a fight response look outward for the cause of problems in the relationship. Naturally, the easiest person to blame is your partner.
Flight Response
The flight response is the secondary reaction to stress by moving away from it with a great deal of energy. If the danger isn’t something we can fight, our bodies are equally prepared to help us run away.
The flight response is also physically energizing. You might feel restless and unable to sit still. Your body sensations start to get numb so you can run away without feeling the effects of fatigue. Your heart starts going faster so your body is ready to go.
Mentally, flight takes the form of avoidance. When you have a stressful deadline or project, your mind goes to something else- anything else. You might procrastinate, avoid opening emails, or get busy with lots of other tasks that keep you away from the stressful one.
In relationships, people with a flight response tend to pull away when there are problems. These relationships tend to have a pursuer-distancer dynamic where one partner wants to discuss the problem and the other person will do anything to get out of that conversation.
Freeze Response
The body uses freeze as a tertiary response- something you only access if you’re unable to fight and you’re trapped so you can’t run away. One sign of chronic trauma or stress is that you use freeze as your primary response because of a long time of conditioning.
When you freeze, your body moves slower. You might breathe less, your heart rate slows down, and your body can start to feel stiff. Physically, you might look paler as your body focuses on survival by limiting your circulation.
Mentally, a freeze response involves dissociation. This can look like disconnection or detachment, or in more extreme cases it can look like a full dissociative disorder. With a stressful project or deadline, this can look very similar to the avoidance patterns of flight- at least from the outside. The difference is in your internal experience. With flight, your mind is busy finding something else to think about, but with freeze you’re just detached from the experience.
In relationships, a freeze response can involve literally freezing in the face of difficulty or confrontation. (Note that this is different from stonewalling which uses non-response to hurt or punish the other person)
Fawn Response
This response is almost exclusive to people who grew up in systematically abusive or traumatic environments, with narcissistic or substance using parents, or in a neglectful or rejecting environment. The fawn response is relational and focused on the other person.
When you go into a fawn response, your mind becomes hyper focused on the other person, looking for something to make them happy. This makes sense in the context of childhood abuse because your abusers are typically also your caregivers. Since you were dependent on the people who were harming or rejecting you, the fawn response is a rational way to try to get your needs met by being helpful and doing what they want.
In adulthood, the fawn response can be dangerous. People who fawn can be easily victimized again by abusive relationships since they tend to be easily controlled, have few boundaries, and depend on others.
Healing Maladaptive Stress and Trauma Responses
These stress responses occur when your sympathetic nervous system is activated as a result of something surprising, stressful, or threatening happens in your life. The sympathetic nervous system is normally balanced by the parasympathetic nervous system which activates to calm things down after the threat has passed.
Grounding techniques can help you shift states so you can more quickly recognize that you’re safe. A combination of physical and mental grounding techniques can help you slow down, control your breath and heart rate, and evaluate your situation rationally.
Online Therapy Can Help
While most people are able to recognize and manage their stress responses on their own, people with a history of trauma tend to fall on the more extreme ends of these responses.
If you have a history of trauma, therapy is one way to learn how to recognize these patterns, stop any maladaptive stress responses, and heal the trauma memories that get in the way of your ability to react appropriately.
Contact Me Today to Get Started
If you’re in California and you want to learn more about healing your trauma-fueled stress reactions, read more about me, learn how I work here, check out my FAQ, or contact me. I offer a free 15 minute consultation so we can decide if therapy with me is the right fit for you.